Choices: Coach or Not? (For Life, Career and Sports)

 

Choices: Coach or Not? (For Life, Career and Sports)

By Bethany Looi

As the first day of school slowly approaches, it is a good time to think of all the goals that have been accomplished in the last 2 months.

My number one goal was to find a new golf coach, who would help me improve my golf swing. I have knocked that one out! From accomplishing this goal, I have learned:

3 Life lessons you can learn from golf:

1.   Don’t listen to someone who can’t show you the results you want:

One day, my mom took me to the driving range to practice. She commented on how my swing looked different than everyone else’s at the range. I said, “How so?”” (I needed any advice I could get!) So, she tried to give me an explanation which she thought would improve my swing. She’s not a professional and doesn’t even own a golf club. Not really the ideal person to get advice about golf from… we resolved to ask my coach instead.

2.   Don’t compare:

At one of my recent lessons with my coach, I felt rather discouraged; as we watched a man who has joined long distance golf driving competitions, swing his driver. The ball went over 350 yards! Currently, my swing can’t take me anywhere close to that! However, this man was over 6 feet tall. My coach explained how I needed to do my swing a little differently from others, so I could get my ball to go that far. This is because I am barely 5 feet tall. Obviously, someone who is 6 feet tall would be able to get their ball to go farther than me.

In other words, don’t compare anything you do with others! It will just make you feel bad about yourself, causing you to lose focus on your goal.

3.   Everyone needs a coach:

The first month of summer, I practiced without a coach because we decided that our previous coach has taken me to where I need to go and no more. I made no improvement. But with just 2 lessons with a new coach, results were seen significantly. I realized that whether it’s a sport, or just about anything, everyone needs a coach to get advice on how to improve. 

 

For part of our observation on life, my mother has been taking us to places where we met young adults who have recently graduated from college or are in college. Her favorite questions were: What are you doing in college? What are you going to major in? What are you going to do after graduating? Will you carry a loan after you graduated?

The answers are scary!

If you want to know the answers, please check back with us on our next post.

 

 Bethany Looi is a 16 year old high school student who goes to a brick and mortar public school and also an online school. She is scheduled to graduate one year earlier than her peers with honors. Bethany enjoys playing golf, traveling and learning new languages. She is currently pursuing an advanced level Spanish with a private tutor. She is starting to work as a virtual assistant and currently has 2 clients. Bethany is blogging here at uncommongeneration.com one to two times a month. She has been to 12 countries and her favorite things to do in each country are shopping, eating and sightseeing.